Guest cezent Posted October 23, 2010 Report Share Posted October 23, 2010 (edited) Having spent the afternoon playing with this puppy, I have to say I m really really impressed. Here's my thought: Hardware the build quality is top notch. people know its 4'3 screen and aluminium body and etc, but really, the photos and video on youtube dont justify the phone in physical form. Its a thing of beauty, you ll know what I mean when u hold it in hand. I ordered the phone with modaco package which came with screen protector, but in the end i decided not to use the screen protector as I dont want to spoil the look. The screen is large, clear, the contrast and resolution matches the retina display of iphone4. I had the DesireHD side by side with my iPhone4, the DHD instantly stands out. The use of real estate on the front of the phone is outstanding. The camera had great improvement too. camera is typically the weak spot in HTC handset, but they ve done a good job in DesireHD. if there is anything to improve I personally think its the missing of trackball and the camera button. but i guess that's more of personal preference. And also, the battery/sim case structure seems a bit weird. usually there is just one cover for both battery and sim. However, DesireHD have one big cover for SIM at the bottom back, and a small cover on the side for the battery. I m not a fan of the battery cover in particular. It doesnt feel secure and there s already story of people losing the battery cover by accident. update: after some closeup testing the Retina display on iPhone4 is probably slightly better than DesireHD. The difference is very very minimum for normal viewing, but if you are a fan of looking at your phone screen from extreme angle, retina display on iPhone4 is more visible when looking from side. This doesnt bother me since I dont read ebooks at 25degree angle :P in fact the DHD screen is so big it makes teh whole of iphone4 looks like a mini-phone. I ll try to upload some pictures comparison later. Battery Life So far so good. I have not even charged a full cylcle yet. Used it straight out of box and it has lasted a good 7 hour of setting up, ROM upgrade, download & restoring apps, constant wifi, contact sync, facebook sync and the gmail, hotmail, yahoo & exchange emails sync. I havent do much calling, or video playback or radio or music for that matter, which tend to drain battery faster than other activities, however, I did spend a good half an hour also tackling Angry Bird with full volume. Will do a full charge tonight and see how long it last tomorrow. There has been some report says it typically only last for about 12hrs. we shall see. OS Nothing too much to say here. the underlying Android 2.2 is as good as it can be. However, there s some news about Gingerbread being very close to release (there s already a Giant Gingerbread mascot outside google headquarter), judging from past experience that probably means Nexus One will get the gingerbread update first and it might take a long time before DesireHD's underlying android version catch up. guess we ll need to wait and see on that one. HTCSense I didnt thought this is of much significance before I got the phone, and I was certainly wrong. The new SenseUI is awesome. There are 70+ HTC specific widget All the social networking contacts are very well integrated HTCsense.com integration HTC Hub that you can download their own app and wallpaper (and others) HTC Likes that gets nice recommendations of apps settings are now backedup into google account instead of on SD card, which means all the setup are automatically restored, unlike in the old SenseUI. Notification for change battery profile when battery is below 15% update: some of the functions on HTCsense.com such as remote lock and erase seems to have some problem at the moment, but the idea is good when it works. The boot time is fast, REAL fast! under 10sec from off to full on with signals. its awesome. However, it seems there isnt much improvement to the facebook for HTC sense and Twitter for HTC sense compare to the last SenseUI. The contact integration is good for "friends stream", but those app alone cant do some of the standard functions such as sending messages on facebook to a specific friend ( at least i havent found out how). My solution for now is to add facebook stock app at the same time as facebook for HTC Sense. it's working OK, but a bit annoying to see two facebook icon when click individual contact details and its sometime hard to tell which is which. Also, the same contact might be sync twice. Overall verdict: best smart phone in the market Edited October 24, 2010 by cezent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Thanks for the info. Any chance of some camera samples? Vimeo is a good host for video.. Cheers M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest angamb Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Here's my Review of the HTC DESIRE HD (after 6 days) Taken from my review on XDA Developers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As an owner of the original Desire, which I was extremely happy with and had no real issues, the decision to upgrade to the HD was not taken lightly. I wanted a bigger screen version of the Desire so when HTC announced this phone I was excited beyond belief. After all the media circus of when the Desire HD was to be released and shipped I was like a kid on Christmas Eve the day before my phone arrived. Ok, I opened up the box, and firstly thought for a flagship model costing hundreds of pounds it was devoid of any goodies. The box was standard, the earphones were the usual basic quality poor HTC ones and not even a pouch/case provided. The Samsung 8Gb card was only a class 2. Ok, the phone was lifted out and I immediately thought how heavy it was. In a nice way! I like a phone that feels heavy, it seems safer and certainly better quality. It was cold against the skin, giving me the assurance of it's aluminium frame. The battery compartment cover was nasty! You really had to rip it off and it felt uncomfortable to do so. The battery just fell out, which is by design as I guess it would need some sort of ejection mechanism else. Putting the cover back on was very fiddly and no clear way of doing so. I still to this day am unsure if it really is back on properly!! The cover for the SIM/SD section was equally tough to separate. I was so worried about damaging the phone in some way because of the forces reqd to get this off. I have since developed a far better way of removing this than the instructions given in the manual. Too complex to explain, may do a YouTube vid at some point. Ok, fire up the phone, pretty straight forward. Once on the main screen I noticed how washed out the colours were compared to the original Desire. Colours are on a par with PC screens (which isn't suprising as it's LCD not OLED) This at first was a major disappointment as my usual Live Wallpapaer (Sense) looked very unappealing. Sitting it next to my Desire I was quite frustrated. The text is clear and the response was superb but not just quite as nice as the Desire. Now a few days on I am used to it and don't notice that problem. I have gone for darker wallpaper to make my phone look really cool. The new Sense UI has some really good improvements, especially when customising. The new Theme skinning is great. Your buttons can look different now and new themes hopefully in the pipeline to completely redecorate your phone. More widgets and panels to play with, the new UI is very good. Camera isn't hugely different in quality from the original Desire but the new picture tweaks are not only fun but actually very useful. Dual flash is also welcome. Video quality is definitely HD and very good for a phone camera. Battery life is the same as my Desire. I charge it overnight and it lasts pretty much all day using regularly with all comms connections and lots of widgets. I really don't think it's the issue people worry about. I think all smartphones need charging daily. Memory available for apps is huge. I installed about 115 apps on my original Desire and I was left with a mere 20Mb which mean't a lot of careful pruning of apps. This time I have 130 apps and a massive 930Mb free!! As for problems, well I didn't have the proximity sensor problem .. but I did have a duff SD card. It kept unmounting and I tried various things until grabbing a new SD card was the only thing that worked. Even though the supplied card is Samsung branded it wasn't a good one. I use a Transcend 6 speed card which is flawless. The screen colour 'was' an issue at first but I am definitely over that. The ONLY thing I really hate about the HTC DESIRE HD is the external speaker. It's pathetic. It's too low in volume and a little bit tinny. My partner has an Orange San francisco that puts this to shame. With it's fancy Dolby/SRS system you'd expect better performance but honestly it is poor. Ringtones are too quiet and audio on videos/SatNav too quiet. The saving grace is that ear/headphone use is superb. Finally HTCSense.com is not working. A lot of people experiencing major problems with sync and connection. Hopefully this is just teething probs that will be sorted. The Hub has a few ringtones/wallpapers and app suggestions but nothing to get excited about. An OTA update appeared yesterday which installed without a hitch. No noticeable difference but some people report this has fixed the proximity sensor problem. Conclusion: After 5 days use, I really love the phone and have no regrets buying it. The big screen is no problem for trouser pockets or holding whilst typing and that screen is fantastic for web browsing and youtube. The speed/response is very impressive, it looks great and external speaker aside it's a phone I highly recommend. Feel free to ask any questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest arielext Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 mine was suited with a 8GB class 4 sandisk sd card, wonder why we have different brands and speeds What do other people have their DHD suited with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cezent Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 mine was suited with a 8GB class 4 sandisk sd card, wonder why we have different brands and speeds What do other people have their DHD suited with? Mine is a class 2 samsung. it could be dependent on which batch/retailer u get DHD from. I m not that bothered with the speed on SD Card at the moment. its one accessory that's never short of supply and never go up in prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AndyCr15 Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 My review can be found here - http://hemorrdroids.net/htc-desire-hd-review/ It includes sample photo's, videos, browser test and much more :P I'm one of the ones only getting 12 hours use from it though :D I did treat the battery rather bad the first day, working on the review already. I'm waiting for it to settle down though, usually takes about 10 days to get real good life from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 My review can be found here - http://hemorrdroids.net/htc-desire-hd-review/ It includes sample photo's, videos, browser test and much more :P I'm one of the ones only getting 12 hours use from it though :D I did treat the battery rather bad the first day, working on the review already. I'm waiting for it to settle down though, usually takes about 10 days to get real good life from them. thanks for the info, stills camera looks good, but man, that 720p video capture looks terrible. Hopefully someone will be able to try with a faster card. Any pics taken with the "flash" please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JokerNJ Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 Thanks for the reviews, all good stuff. Really still on the fence on the HD. Actually had one in my hand at the weekend and could have left the shop with it but the size stopped me - not sure I could live with it every day bearing in mind I tend to carry in my jeans pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AndyCr15 Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 (edited) Any pics taken with the "flash" please? Yes, there are two there. One is of a glass cat, with a red fish in it. The other is of wooden chest of drawers, close up. This is what I mean about the camera being so good, you can't really tell they are pics taken using the flash! (Scroll to the bottom to link to Picasa. Download if you want to see them full sized) Edited October 26, 2010 by AndyCr15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 Ah brilliant, thanks. Looks really good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 26, 2010 Report Share Posted October 26, 2010 My review can be found here - http://hemorrdroids.net/htc-desire-hd-review/ It includes sample photo's, videos, browser test and much more :P I'm one of the ones only getting 12 hours use from it though :D I did treat the battery rather bad the first day, working on the review already. I'm waiting for it to settle down though, usually takes about 10 days to get real good life from them. Nice review. Have you ever had a HTC Hero or had experiences with its speaker? I wonder if the Desire HDs speaker is even worse... It was one of the reasons to upgrade - asides of the screen and performance of course. I'm really disappointed of the screen so far. The pictures.. idk, they look weird to me. Maybe there's too much sharpness? But really, what alternatives do we Android users have, not to mention the SGS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ratcom Posted October 27, 2010 Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 got mine yesterday and I must admit I really like it, having come from a nexus one I was surprised how washed out the colours looked when compared side by side to the nexus but that said its a very sharp screen and makes games look brilliant. The only other down side I would say is the speaker they used is no better than the one they used in the nexus :P which is a real shame because the camera is great (see attached photos taken at work in POOR lighting) |So to sum up I would say... Bad points Speaker (they used one from a waist watch) Colours displayed are slightly washed out when compared to nexus ect Good Points Fast Loads of memory Everything else! Oh and the sim / memory card cover is a little tricky to get right and yep mine dont go back on flush :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AndyCr15 Posted October 27, 2010 Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 Ha ha, thanks the second time I've seen someone use my wrist watch comment about the speaker (see my hemorrdroids.net review :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 27, 2010 Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 ...because the camera is great (see attached photos taken at work in POOR lighting) Honestly, no matter under what circumstances this pic was taken... It looks awful in the thumb preview already, not to mention the full size image.. is it only me who's not THAT blown away by the image quality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ratcom Posted October 27, 2010 Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 Honestly, no matter under what circumstances this pic was taken... It looks awful in the thumb preview already, not to mention the full size image.. is it only me who's not THAT blown away by the image quality? I think you need to compare this to a shot from the hero for example to see why it worthy of comments like "great" I've owned a hero and can promise you this camera is streets ahead of anything i've used by htc before, that said you do bring up a great point and tomorrow when it gets light I will taken another photo using natural light to compare :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 27, 2010 Report Share Posted October 27, 2010 I'm very disappointed with the camera from some review samples (In particular the 720p video capture on the engadget review is TERRIBLE). When will HTC ever learn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Daz555 Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 I'm very disappointed with the camera from some review samples (In particular the 720p video capture on the engadget review is TERRIBLE). When will HTC ever learn! Probably down to the class 2 SD card bundled with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Seems unlikely to me, I doubt the phone would dynamically alter the bitrate dependant on the write speed of the card. Can anyone post a sample from recording to a higher class card pls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AndyCr15 Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Seems unlikely to me, I doubt the phone would dynamically alter the bitrate dependant on the write speed of the card. Isn't that the problem though. If it's trying to write too much data at a high bitrate and the SD card can't keep up, it starts to jump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Yeah I know what you mean, that has been down to the class of the card in the past, but I was referring specifically to the low bitrate (perhaps I should have been clearer). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ratcom Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 here is a shot I took with everything set to auto .... just stuck my head out of the back door and took it. Also its worth noting I never used the card included with the phone I've got my own 16gig class 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 here is a shot I took with everything set to auto .... just stuck my head out of the back door and took it. Also its worth noting I never used the card included with the phone I've got my own 16gig class 4 Thanks mate, but we were talking about the bitrate of the videos. Perhaps you could upload a quick video to Vimeo? cheers M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest duderuud Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 Just made a quick 720P video test with the DHD. No sound and tried to focus on specific points a couple of times. http://www.vimeo.com/16275460 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ratcom Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 quick video test at 720p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest markdotpeters5 Posted October 28, 2010 Report Share Posted October 28, 2010 (edited) thanks guys. The reason I suggested Vimeo is that you can download the original file. Youtube just makes everything look worse than it actually is. Hrm, it looks 'OK' but the bitrate still seems to low, and the jerkyness is still there, although only a little due to the slow moving scenery. Edited October 28, 2010 by markdotpeters5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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